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Ender's Game

Ender's Game

List Price: $6.99
Your Price: $6.29
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The absolute best Sci-Fi novel I've ever read.
Review: At first I didn't think I wanted to read this book. Then a good friend kept bugging me about it and telling me I needed to read it. After starting I found it was hard to put down. The book hooked me instantly and from there I continiued until I was done. The battleroom is the coolest concept of a Sci-Fi I've read. Lastly the twist at the end kept me just pondering about it for minutes after reading it. By far the absolute best Sci-Fi written. Hopefully a movie will be made of this gripping novel. I recommend this to any who even thinks they want to read it, or to anyone looking for a good Sci-Fi.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Genius.
Review: I can fully understand why people don't like this book. When I first read it, I hated it. But then, over the next few days, the book wouldn't leave my mind. If you can read even one level past the harsh writing (there are a lot of levels at which you can take this book), the sheer directness of the story will force you to think. It's something like a Zen koan; it seems like a simple, direct statement, but pretty soon you're thinking about the nature of reality. The story of Ender is extemely compelling for many reasons. How many geniuses have had their lives wasted serving an abstraction of "humanity?" And the battle school - essentially, we have a microcosm of the world with all the word games stripped away.

The real reason I didn't like it the first time was not that the characters were cliche, though that's what I told myself (they're not, but you have to really pay attention to see them as they are; how many real people reveal a complex, multifaceted personality in everyday life, for all to see?). It isn't that the plot was unoriginal; if you think about it, there are very few earlier works with a similar story line. No, the real reason was the writing.

Why has Card so completely abandoned the finer side of the literary craft? You can be sure he had his reasons, and he explains some in the introduction, but you cannot deny the simple fact that it works. Without filters, the experience is direct. The "surreal" element, if you want to call it that, captures not the moment but the character's impression of the moment, forcing a reader with imagination to live the life of the character. Even while I was telling myself that the book was pointless, I was reading it at 3 a.m. It's very disturbing to have a book become your life for a few hours, but the best books do disturb us. Rather than preaching, like the later books in this series, it transforms.

So, after Ender's Game had haunted me for a week, I read it again. And this time, to my surprise, I liked it. Maybe it's like jumping into near-freezing water; you have to get used to it, but once you are, you enjoy it. It has turned out to be one of the most thought-provoking books I have ever read, not because of what it explicitly says but because of what it doesn't. It doesn't spoon feed you any kind of pseudo-"philosophy" or "meaning." It leaves that to you.

As for the realism, I don't think there's a problem. The idea that "no kids are that smart" is naive and ulimately prejudiced and ridiculous. It would upset some people's well-constructed view of the universe if some kids were that smart, but unfortunately that has little to do with the truth. Prodigies on a level with Ender are hated and feared for the gift. Our society values conformity above all else. Why else does so much of our educational system seem devoted to crushing every fragment of awe and imagination in our children, turning them into good citizens? But there are examples in history - Mozart, who wrote a symphony at the age of five, or the Indian mathemetician Ramanujan, who single-handedly rederived all of Western mathematics before he was twenty. Lik the best literature, Ender's Game is written partly with the intent of shattering closed minds.

So for those of you who can't seem to get over how bad this book was, read it again.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Incomparable
Review: Card's best work (which says a lot, for he is head and shoulders above other writers). Enders Game is the best book I have ever read, and I've read it numerous times. I recommend it to all, not just sci-fi buffs, I guarantee it will change your world.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Thoroughly engrossing, thought-provoking, and entertaining
Review: This is an amazing novel. It is very deep and is worthwhile for more than just its entertainment value. Card has the ability to write about 'darker' subjects in a way that is both compassionate and compelling. He really brings science fiction to another level, where it is approachable and still retains its science fiction back-bone. Science fiction was created to examine 'the human condition' and use a fantastic medium to delve into matters of human nature. Card really does justice to science fiction. I usually find stories that involve war or death to be too heavy-handed and in poor taste. But 'Ender's Game' did not have gratuitous violence and death nor filter things through a romantic, dumbed down lense. Card approaches his subject matter in a very thoughtful, believable, and bold manner. It really leaves an impression. Unless you absolutely hate science fiction (like one reviewer seems to) and cannot see past the futuristic trappings to the human story underneath, you will really enjoy 'Ender's Game'.In fact, I am 99% that you will love it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Life Altering Book
Review: One of the Greatest accopmlishments of modern Sci-fi. A Life altering book. From the Begining to end superb. Can be read over and over again.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: An enjoyable read, but over-rated.
Review: I've been hearing rave reviews about Enders Game for years. I read it last weekend and I did enjoy it, however, I do think some people adorned this story with too much praise. I'm not saying it was bad, it's just not the Sci-Fi genius I've been hearing (nor does it deserve a "5 star" rating). It kept me interested throughout, but I predicted the ending two chapters prior.

For a decent Sci-Fi story, Ender's Game will do. If you desire more depth, read "Battlefield Earth".

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Forced Reading
Review: The only reason I read any of this book was because my friend (who thought it was great) gave and forced me to read it whenever I was in his presence. This "book" was absolutely horrible. The main character, a child named ender, is supposed to be a super genius at military strategies. Yet he lets his brother beat him up. Then he gets toted off to military academy where other children get the chance to bully him around even after he beats them up. This was the single least enjoyable part of the book, since I am not a sadist. Then he single-handedly beats up and "revives" the innocent "buggers" by playing a video game, founds a new colony and starts a new religion. Somehow I see more fiction than science in this part of the book and would have enjoyed it were it not for the sub-plot about his siblings and taking over the world on the internet. The idea that a six-year old could do all this with the learned responsibility and advanced experience of an adult is laughable. For believable sci-fi read something by Pohl or Clarke.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: excellent
Review: This was the first book that ever grabbed me and made me want to read more and more of the book even when i was tired. Since i read Enders game i have read V2 and V3 which were as good or better, Card is my favorite auther, and i suggest this book to anyone looking for a book that will grasp their mind and tickle their senses.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One the best Sci-fi novels ever
Review: Ender's game delves into the mind of a young man who is chosen to save the world. Starting off on earth in the future, Ender is taken from his home to a battle school in space, where he trains to be the one to save the human race. While at the end of the book, it tries to cover to much time to fast, the impact remains. You really feel as if you're Ender, and this is magnified if you read the other 3 books in the series. Orson Scott Card is a terrific author. In this novel, he speaks as if you are really in the Ender's mind. Great book, great series.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Extraordinary!
Review: The day I spent reading Ender's Game, I *was* Ender ... Card is one of the most gifted science fiction writers and story tellers I've read. Although the world described in Ender's Game is so different to the current world that it almost seems alien, the emotions and human drives and fears are definitely nothing new. Yet they are presented by Card with such an amazing freshness and originality that one can't help but be drawn in. Ender feels like a real character because there is a little of Ender in each of us, or at least we wish that there was.


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